A Nostalgic Slap
by Murayama Tsuru
Summary: A short-ish oneshot about Hao and his thoughts on Anna slapping him. Also a little of Hao's past and his thoughts on the moment in the last chapter when his mom slapped him in front of Yoh's gang. If you haven't read the last chapter don't read this.


**Welcome back or hello for the first time. This time I decided to write a oneshot about Hao from Shaman King. I wanted to show what I thought Hao thought of both the times when Anna slapped him (one of my most favorite moments in the series) and when his mother appeared before him as he was about to destroy the human race (sounds evil, but it's one of my other favorite scenes). I also wanted to write a little about what I thought of Hao's past, it's probably not cannon, but then again, this is Fanfiction.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Shaman King, it belongs to Hiroyuki Takei. If I owned Shaman King, I would make the bodies of the characters more realistic when they are shirtless (I guess it's more for Karakuji Douji Ultimo than for Shaman King). Don't get me wrong, I love Takei's art style, it just irks me little to see all the characters so unrealistically skinny.**

SMACK!

When I felt the stinging shock of Yoh's fiancée, Anna's, hand connecting with my face I felt four things. First, astonishment because she slapped me, Hao, future Shaman King. Second, irritation from hearing the short one and the pink haired one chant "The Legendary Left!". Third, admiration that turned into amusement and indignation because, to reiterate what I said earlier, she slapped me. The fourth and final thing I felt was nostalgia. Anna's slap was so similar to my mother's.

When I was a child, my mother often slapped me. For the more modern audiences, this probably sounds like child abuse. I must admit though, I think I deserved every one of those slaps. They mostly stemmed from the times I beat up the insolent children who were bullying me about my "freak powers". The first time I told my mother, proudly, that I beat them; she got a shocked look on her face and slapped me. Immediately, my hand came up to my face and I pled self-defense but she slapped me again and told me it was wrong to beat people up. Looking back on it, she was right, but I was young and didn't think what I was doing was wrong. There's a part of me that still doesn't think I was wrong, but there's another part of me that knows I should have listened to her. She must have gotten a lot of crap from the neighborhood about me beating up their children, still I kept "defending" myself from the bullying; the only difference was that I either wouldn't tell my mother or she would find out and I would take the slaps in silence. Don't get me wrong, my mother was a kind, fair woman, she wasn't always slapping me. When was proud of me she'd ruffle my hair. Perhaps my mother was the only person I truly loved. When my mother was killed, I lost her (violent) guidance and became bitter, angry soul seeking revenge on her unjust death. As I grew older and more in-tune with my powers, I learned to make people respect me instead of beating them up or killing them. I hoped this would make my mother proud. I hardly ever saw her ghost; I think she was avoiding me. I still wanted to slaughter all the humans for their cruelty, even if it would make my mother's ghost sad.

I was snapped out of my reverie when the Patch Officiants announced that we had arrived at the place of the Great Spirit. Yeah, I can have a memory of a memory, I'm just that old. I have waited 1,000 years to become Shaman King, remembering something that happened only weeks ago is like the saying "I remember it like it was yesterday" for me. As I became one with Great Spirit I saw My Twin and his gang arrive; I smirked at them, my eyes saying "You're too late Brother Dear, I will destroy all the non-shamans!" As I was about to command the Great Spirit to do just that I felt a nostalgic kind gaze on me. I looked over and saw my mother smiling at me, then she ruffled my hair like she used to when she was proud of me. I only felt humiliation, which was only made worse when she apologized for my "stupidity". So, I yelled at her saying "Why should I apologize? I did this because those filthy humans killed you!" Her response you ask? You should surely be able to guess it by now, she slapped me, hard (again, I felt slight irritation at hearing Yoh chant "The Legendary Left"). Then she told me that, as king, I should love my people and that the emotions that everyone feels are what make them alive. Then my twin smiled at me saying "I'm happy for you Nii-chan". With a glare, I told him that I still want to erase every human in existence but I would be contented with just watching for now. I also told him that he shouldn't be so impertinent to call me "Nii-chan", as I am the Shaman King. But really, I was happy with being called "Nii-chan" because I felt forgiven for all my sins. This also marks the first time I have ever felt content and at peace with who and what I am.

**I hope you enjoyed my story, please tell me what you think. To tell the truth, I thought up the idea for this story in the shower, so it might seem a little half-assed. I really hope you don't think that because I tried my very hardest! Is Hao out of character any? I'm not all that good at writing cruelty and cynicism but I tried my best. Please read and review.**

**-Murayama Tsuru**


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